School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering

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The tools we use every day, and the power that drives them, rely on ambitious and innovative engineers. From the phone in your pocket to nuclear safety systems and self-driving cars, our society continually interacts with what we study in the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. 

We're a recently-formed school, uniting the expertise of the School of Energy and Electronic Engineering and the School of Mechanical and Design Engineering. Our merger is underpinned by multi-million pound investments in new robotics and artificial intellence, energy and space engineering laboratories. Together, we can undertake even more ambitious teaching and research into the ways that engineering can lead to creative and practical solutions for societal issues.

Our staff play a crucial role in addressing both national and global challenges. They've developed diagnostic tools for nuclear power plants, enhanced the functionality and usability of prostheses, and used artificial intelligence to predict electricity consumption, cancer surgery patient outcomes, and weather events in a changing climate. We're also working to improve safety in air traffic control, and researching the advanced materials and manufacturing processes that can advance sustainability goals across a wide range of industries, including the space sector.

Our culture of collaboration and free exchange of ideas in research and teaching encourages and challenges our students. This open and welcoming culture of collaboration allows the free exchange of ideas with experienced and supportive lecturers, so that both our researchers and our students are challenged productively.

We've got a proven track record of producing sought after graduates with the practical skills for employment – over 90% of our students, from both pre-existing schools, are in work or further study 15 months after graduation (HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey 2019/20).

Accreditations

Many of our courses are accredited by professional bodies allowing our students to progress to become Chartered or Incorporated Engineers.

Extra-curricular opportunities

Through our close ties with local industries, national organisations and international businesses, our students get the chance to work in industry through placements and industrial projects. 

Throughout their time with us, students are encouraged to take control of their careers and differentiate themselves from their competition in the employment market. With the support of the University, students have the opportunity to improve their skills — and their knowledge of different job profiles — through extracurricular projects, work experience opportunities and industrial placements.

Each allows students to enhance their studies with the experience they gain, and can boost their career prospects after graduation.

• Extracurricular activities are organised by students for students and often include participation in inter(national) competitions organised by external organisations such as NXP, the IET and IMechE (our accrediting bodies) and more.

• Formula Student racing car competition – Our UPRacing EV team competes in the international Formula Student competition, where students plan, design, cost and build a single-seat race car before competing against other teams at Silverstone and Circuit de Catalunya. The project brings together students from across engineering schools as they gain practical experience as well as financial and project management skills in a fun and competitive environment. In 2019, our team won the Class 2 competition, in which they created a complete design for a racing car, and came third out of 90 teams in the 2021 international Class 1 competition. In 2024, they were 2nd in the UK and 5th internationally in the Concept Class. Our second UPRacing Alternative Fuel team has also design a hydrogen concept car for 2024 competition. 

• UAS drone design challenge – Our student led drone team applies their learning in the lab and classroom by building a manned or unmanned drone to compete in the UAS Challenge against teams from all over the UK. Completing a real-life project measured against industry-like milestones during your degree is an excellent proof of employability.

• NXP Challenge – Students design and race a small autonomous car in an international competition, developing valuable skills in hardware, software and project management.  

• Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Design Challenge – each year, EWB identifies a problem faced by citizens of underdeveloped or developing countries, and asks student groups across the world to solve them. The curriculum at Portsmouth builds this challenge into our assessments, so our students’ work is automatically entered into the competition

• School Projects – Summers may be time to relax, but some of our students relax by getting involved in the School’s research projects. We advertise all research projects open to student involvement, and the students who join in get valuable research and development experience while also working in their fields of interest. The school also holds a database of competitions on Moodle that the students could pursue in their free time, supported by the school. They are able to claim badges as they complete these projects and attend different development activities.

Placements and work experience opportunities

We support and encourage our students to take work experience opportunities and/or a year-long placement, to help them stand out amongst the thousands of graduates competing for a graduate role soon after finishing study. 

Placements in industry

Placements can be taken up across the UK and abroad, in small, medium and large companies. We are also part of the UK government's Turing scheme, offering summer and yearlong study abroad opportunities. 

Opportunities to create self-employed and start-up placements are built into our engineering curriculum, with entrepreneurial skills taught in a compulsory module at level 5. 

Read more about technology maths and engineering placements

Work experience

We have strong links with employers, through which our students can access varied work experience opportunities. Our students have done work placements at organisations including XMOS Core, Airbus, Portsmouth Water, Spirent, IBM and Apollo Fire Detectors. Many of our graduates go on to work for the same companies where they do their placement.We offer an Estée Lauder Companies - Whitman Scholarship, which offers a bursary and a work experience placement to local undergraduates.  

Partnerships and funding

Our partnerships with organisations around the world benefit from our teaching and research. Organisations we've worked with include Cartier, the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH), Queen Alexandra Hospital, Diamond Light Source, Glaxo Smith Klein, the Lung Institute, iRed, STS Defence, Southern Railway, Fortissimo, Tructyre, RL Capital, SoftIron, PML Flightlink, Flight Data Services, and European Technology Ltd.We're part of a team working on a project called FLOWER, funded by the European Regional Development fund to use plant fibres to produce more sustainable plastics that can be recycled.

We've received research funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Innovate UK, the Leverhulme Trust, BEinCPPS, Technology Strategy Board, Royal Academy of Engineering, South East England Development Agency, Bridgeworks Ltd, Spoon2 Ltd, British Council Turkey, Interreg, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

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